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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29971593">Unexpected Affection</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightLegacy13/pseuds/TwilightLegacy13'>TwilightLegacy13</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Things Unforeseen [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Witchlands Series - Susan Dennard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Fluff, Chronological Stories, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 03:14:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,792</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29971593</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightLegacy13/pseuds/TwilightLegacy13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Eight short stories along the timeline of the friendship of Leopold and Arida (an original character in my Things Unforeseen series).  Certain chapters will have spoilers for An Unexpected Introduction.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Things Unforeseen [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2068053</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Unexpected Affection</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This first story takes place the day after An Unexpected Getaway.  I didn't need to write any of these, but I really enjoy writing about these two.  I hope you like it!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the second time in two days, Arida went into a condemned building in the Angelstatt, but for the first time, she wasn’t doing it because she had no other option.  No, this time she was walking right through the door of her own free will and at the invitation of Cartorra’s only heir.</p><p>It was the kind of situation that was so ridiculous it had to be real.</p><p>She half-expected to find no one in the building, but sure enough, Leopold was waiting for her.  In contrast to his ordinary dark cloak from yesterday, now he was dressed like a prince:  silver and gray laced doublet, white buttoned gloves, and a long coat of crushed green velvet.  He smiled as she entered, like he was welcoming her into a grand hall instead of a crumbling edifice in the slums.</p><p>“You’re late,” he noted.</p><p>“No, I’m not,” she countered before it could occur to her that arguing with the prince, in spite of their conversation earlier, might not be the best idea.  She guessed that now would be a rather late point in her life to suddenly get a filter for what she said.  “You told me to meet you here at sundown.”</p><p>He gestured toward the door.  “The sun began setting at least an hour ago.  I was beginning to think that you wouldn’t show up at all.”</p><p>“It b<em>egan</em> setting before now, maybe,” Arida conceded.  “But you said sundown, and the sun wasn’t down yet.”</p><p>“Well, it had started coming down.”</p><p>“Then you should have clarified ‘sunset.’  Otherwise, you meant for me to not show up until the sun was down entirely.”</p><p>“Sunset, sundown—what does it matter?”</p><p>“One is setting and one is down!”</p><p>“But they’re close enough, and you could have arrived at least a little early.”</p><p>“Words have meanings.  If you’re going to give me the wrong word, then at least give me a time.”</p><p>“I didn’t give you the wrong word, you came here late.  And sundown <em>is</em> a time.”</p><p>“Apparently a flexible one!”</p><p>Leopold stared at her, and Arida wondered for a moment if that was where she’d crossed a line.  If his tolerance for her irreverence had already been pushed to its limits.  And then the prince laughed, sounding shocked but pleased, as if nothing delighted him more than arguing with an almost-stranger about what words meant.</p><p>Hopefully that meant she miraculously hadn’t crossed a line, but she couldn’t fathom what was so funny.  Granted, she wouldn’t have said sundown if she meant sunset in the first place, but if she had waited a full hour like he apparently had, she would be damned frustrated.</p><p>“No one talks to me like that,” he explained, still chuckling.  “And I still don’t know your name!  Now, I’ve been here since seventeen chimes, risking my life in a place that could crumble around my shoulders, just for you to not introduce yourself?  Haven’t I earned it?”</p><p>A smile tugged at Arida’s lips.  She couldn’t help it—she liked him, and if he already knew that she was a Wordwitch there couldn’t be much harm in him knowing her name.  “Arida.”</p><p>“It’s lovely to meet you, Arida,” Leopold said.</p><p>“And you, Your Highness,” she replied, hoping to save herself with just a little respect.  Too much and she wouldn’t even recognize herself.</p><p>He waved a gloved hand dismissively.  “Oh, no.  If we’re going to commit crimes together, I don’t think it matters much whether I am the prince.  Call me Leopold.”</p><p>All right, then.  She’d already yelled at him, compelled him, and laughed in his face.  She might as well call the royal heir by his given name.  Why not?</p><p>“You’re awfully forward, Leopold,” she said, testing it out.</p><p>He blinked.  “It’s just a name.”</p><p>“Forget about your name for a moment and let’s go back to where you said we would both commit crimes together.  I still don’t know what you’re doing or why you need me for it, but I know that I’m not the heir and it would be a lot more dangerous for me than for you.  You seem agreeable enough, but I don’t think I’m ready to throw everything to the hell-flames for you, and I <em>know</em> I’m not ready to die for you.”</p><p>“Good,” Leopold answered promptly.  “Because I would not die for you either, and I don’t want you to die for me.  In fact, I want you to work with me so that we—and people like us—will <em>not</em> die.”</p><p>“A noble goal,” Arida conceded.  “But you know, I’ve gone eighteen years without working for you, and I haven’t died even once.”</p><p>He covered his mouth to stifle another laugh.  “Fair enough.  May I explain what I hope to do?”</p><p>“That would be preferable, yes.”</p><p>“Well, I intend to commit treason at the highest levels,” Leopold began.  At least he wasn’t bothering to sugarcoat the truth, but he certainly wasn’t selling it.  “I intend to right the wrongs that my uncle has done, and to make this country safer for everyone who lives in it.”</p><p>“Another noble goal.”  Arida crossed the room, her steps long and even.  Though her aunt had healed the knee that she’d twisted yesterday when she ran from the city guard, it still wasn’t entirely back to normal and the movement wasn’t helping.  Still, she didn’t like to show pain, and she kept pacing.  “You see the problem?  Your goals are noble, patriotic, and mine are treason even when they’re the same.  If you overthrow your uncle or whatever it is you want to do, there will be drama amongst the doms and domnas and then they’ll all follow you, the prince who led them out of disaster and into something better.  If I speak, if I even look at people wrong, it’s my death warrant that almost <em>every</em> Cartorran would sign.</p><p>“I wouldn’t even exist if not for the Cartorran double standard.  My mother fled the country to avoid the Hell-Bards, and met my father on the run.  Now she is most likely dead, and he’s even more of a certainty, and the only family I have left is someone who barely looks like me and doesn’t have anything to hide.”</p><p>He swallowed, looking uncomfortable.  She took the opportunity to keep speaking.</p><p>“Do you see it now?” she asked.  “Do you see the difference between you and me?  I like you, and I wish you the best, I really do.  But it isn’t as simple as saying that we’re both heretics.  I’m the one who has to be, and you’re the one who can get away with it.”</p><p>“For what it’s worth,” Leopold said, “I hope you do not think I’m forcing you into any of this.  You can walk out the door of this awful building right now.”</p><p>She laughed softly.  “Forgive me if I’m not used to it.  For curiosity’s sake, what would you do if I did just that?  If you never saw me again and had to go without the companionship of a criminal that makes you feel better about being one?”</p><p>“I would walk you back to your aunt’s house, say a prayer for your safety, and come up with a plan by myself.”</p><p>Arida froze, her back to the wall.  “Cartorrans don’t pray.”</p><p>“But Nomatsis do, don’t they?  I would, in case the Moon Mother is a bigger help to you than I can be.”</p><p>She slid down the wall to sit on the floor.  They were just words, but words were her specialty, and these resonated with her more than any had in a long time.  Most people hated her, and a very limited few tolerated her, but no one spoke to her the way he did:  neither family nor enemy, but just as a person.  It was so new it was almost frightening, but that didn’t change the fact that Leopold had just given a hypothetical scenario in which he did the kindest thing anyone had ever done for her.</p><p>He was the prince, but he was willing to risk himself for her.  He had dangerous plans, but he was willing to share them with her.  He wasn’t religious, but he was willing to pray for her.</p><p>“I don’t know if she would be,” Arida admitted.  “I’ve never been sure what to believe.  But it means…more than it should, and I want to hear the rest of your plan.”</p><p>Leopold smiled.  “When I’m the emperor, the first thing I will do is abolish the Hell-Bard brigade.  People like you and I—and your mother—will never have to run again.”</p><p>“I’m listening,” she said immediately.  It was almost embarrassing, how easy she was to convince, but change in Cartorra was so long overdue that she couldn’t help it.  How different would her life be now if she hadn’t had to hide her witchery since age seven, and her face since even before that?</p><p>Working with Leopold would be dangerous, but risks were another of Arida’s specialties.  This one was a hell of a lot more worth it than anything else she’d ever done.</p><p>“And then I will make this country a safe place for Nomatsis,” he promised.  “<em>We </em>will.  We’ll take what he has ruined and make it into what it should be, and it will be so much easier with you.  I meant what I said about you being a spy—you could inform me of goings-on in the city, establish communication with other sources of ours, anything.  It’s perfect, don’t you see?”</p><p>His voice was rising with excitement, eyes gleaming with conviction.  It was that look in his eyes that convinced her to say the words that would bind her to a life of treason at the highest levels, to the hopes of something better.</p><p>“It’s perfect.”</p><p>They looked at each other for a moment, prince and spy, Glamourwitch and Wordwitch that had even more to fight for than they had to hide.</p><p>“Now,” Arida said decisively, rising to her feet and walking over to him.  “I need to go back home and come up with a marvelous excuse for sneaking away to meet with you all the time, since we’re going to be scheming for our little treason.”</p><p>“Of course,” Leopold acknowledged with a nod.</p><p>“We really need a better meeting place,” she continued, her confidence returning to her along with jumbled half-prayers and more direction in life than she’d had in eighteen years.  “This place is falling to pieces and it isn’t half as symbolic as I’d like for the opening of a new Cartorran chapter.  Until we find somewhere better, though, I suppose it’ll have to do.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”  Arida paused at the door.  “At eighteen chimes.”</p>
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